Progressive play

Roughly 2 miles from the arena where the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers play basketball, a tiny sports bar is blazing a trail of its own.

The Sports Bra bills itself as the first sports bar and grill devoted exclusively to showing women’s sports to its patrons. Media from Vogue to MSNBC have hailed the restaurant for promoting women’s sports. But though the Sports Bra welcomes all ages to its tables, a closer look shows it doesn’t exactly score a win for family-friendliness.

Citing the statistic that women’s sports receive just 4 percent of media coverage despite featuring around 40 percent of U.S. athletes, owner Jenny Nguyen opened the pub-style establishment last April in hopes of, in her words, “changing the channel.”

Since opening, Nguyen says, her place has at times overflowed with customers who’ve stopped in to watch events like the Women’s College World Series—the championship tournament for the NCAA’s top softball teams—or a Portland Thorns soccer match.

“For the Women’s World Series, we were absolutely jam-packed,” Nguyen told me on a quiet Wednesday morning just after opening her restaurant for lunch. During tennis star Serena Williams’ final match, Nguyen said, “we had people watching through the windows.”

Adorning the Sports Bra’s pink-splashed walls are the flags of college and pro women’s teams from around the Pacific Northwest, along with trophies and other memorabilia. One corner above the bar displays an LGBT Pride flag: America’s most high-profile women’s pro leagues, the National Women’s Soccer League and the Women’s National Basketball Association, have not only LGBT players but sizable LGBT fan bases.

As Nguyen and I spoke, a live women’s hockey match between the United States and Canada played on multiple wall-mounted flat-screen TVs. While the Sports Bra’s theme and décor are largely female-centric, the venue is open to all supporters of women’s sports—male or female. Kids are even allowed in until 10 p.m.

But perceptions of a family-­friendly atmosphere would be misleading: A post on the Sports Bra’s Instagram account invited patrons to a sports trivia night hosted by a drag queen during hours that children could potentially be present.

The Sports Bra’s website also featured an invitation for an adults-only dance party. The ad included a partially obscured F-bomb. The restaurant last summer also hosted a Pride block party. (Nguyen described herself as gay to MSNBC, and same-sex couples are among the bar’s patrons.)

The idea of a women’s sports bar could conceivably start a trend. In December, a similar bar—the Rough & Tumble—opened in Seattle and will show a mix of women’s and men’s sports. Nguyen says she has also received calls from prospective tavern owners across the country seeking to follow her lead.

Nguyen wants her place to be an inspiration to younger girls. “When I was growing up, there were negative connotations with girls playing sports,” she said. “If there had been a place where adults could watch women playing sports, what kind of impact would that have had on me?

“So I thought, ‘Let’s do it—let’s inspire the next generation and not only normalize, but celebrate ­women’s sports.’”

That’s a laudable goal. At some point, though, Nguyen may face a choice: Does she hope for a de facto LGBT bar that draws a narrow range of customers—or one with the worthy mission of promoting women’s sports in an atmosphere that attracts all kinds of patrons and families?